Gregory E. Maggs (George Washington University Law School) has posted A Concise Guide to Using Dictionaries from the Founding Era to Determine the Original Meaning of the Constitution (82 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 358-93) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This Article explains how dictionaries published in the Founding Era may provide evidence of the original meaning of the Constitution. In addition, the Article identifies and discusses six potential problems with relying on definitions from these dictionaries, and cautions that these potential problems must be considered when using Founding Era dictionaries either to make claims about the Constitution’s original meaning or to evaluate claims about original meaning made by others. Finally, the Article includes an Appendix describing nine English language dictionaries and four legal dictionaries from the Founding Era that the Supreme Court has cited in constitutional cases, and indicates where free versions of these dictionaries can be found online.
This is a very useful resource as well as an important contribution to originalist methodology. I saw an earlier draft presented at last year's originalism works-in-progress conference in San Diego and was impressed by the project.
Posted at 6:40 AM